Hi,

Trying to set up my new ASUS EeePC 1011PX - running Crunchbang Linux 10 'Statler', upgraded to 2.6.39-2.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64 kernel.

Prior to upgrading to 2.6.39, I used 2.6.36-2.dmz.5-liquorix-amd64 for a while, and was quite satisfied with it, barring mostly the problem with the microphone functionality. Having attempted many things with configuration, the microphone issue was solved finally by trying 2.6.39.

However, with this latest kernel, I've lost most of my hotkeys, and also ability to do suspend/hibernate. That functionality was provided on this netbook using the debian package 'eeepc-acpi-scripts'. Looking for suggestions on how to get that functionality back.

Also, I've noticed a strange and rather frequent "hard-disk spin-down" (actually sounds more like CD spin-down to me) sound, especially when there is pin-drop silence. Don't remember hearing it as with the stock kernel.

Any/all help in resolving these issues would be great.

cheers,
falcon

< Edited by falcon74 :: Jul 10, 11, 20:57 >
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This actually sounds like your userspace has changed. When you say you lost your ability to suspend and hibernate, do you mean that the action of suspending or hibernating breaks, or that the ability to suspend / hibernate is missing?

Also, if you lose your hotkeys, that _has_ to be userspace too.

And last, it sounds like you upgraded a package that was supposed to be managing power. Now it's doing it's job but is causing your hard drive to spin down very frequently. You probably want to take a look at the package, laptop-mode-tools. It's a default package in Ubuntu and available in the Debian repos.
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.

Wonder what could that be. Barring the newest libc6 that came with gcc-4.5, there is no additional software installation/removal done. As for configuration, that too shouldn't be an issue, because prior to posting, I booted into both kernels to test the behaviour, with the same /etc/ and /boot/grub/grub.cfg.



My mistake, the hotkeys do work, and in fact, do so better. Also, Suspend/Hiberate work! Now the WLAN LED light gets controlled properly, and mute/vol+- work well.

I am not quite sure what happened between yesterday night (my time), and now. Bunch of reboots, and a WLAN (Broadcom STA for my bcm4313) driver installation. Oh yes, I did a forced reinstall (--no-download) of the eeepc-acpi-scripts package! Not sure if one of the postinstall scripts updated some configuration.

Only one hotkey (Fn + F7) for backlight toggle, doesn't work, but I am okay to live with it. I am sure, I can fiddleout the configuration to get it working as well.


Okay, found some clues, not sure if they lead anywhere. At the time of these noisy spindowns, I was running on battery power, and an hour back, I had updated the laptop-mode-tools writeback ratio as per recommendations in this post techpatterns.com/forums/about1502.html. Could that have anything to do ?

I am quite happy with a little noise (unless that frequent spin-down wears the drives faster), because I am pro-battery-life. Willing to take a hit on performance and convenience to prolong battery life.

Thanks for the amazing kernel. It rocks !!
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Yes actually, it sets the thresholds for when data should be written to the disk. By using the settings in the post you found, the kernel will try to write data to disk in bursts rather than in a slow continuous stream. This lets your hard drive return to low power modes more frequently, saving you a ton of battery life.
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Okay. With that explanation, I am good :-).

Thanks again for the amazing kernel, and the help here.
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